Welcome back, Kentucky.  After a six season absence, the University of Kentucky’s basketball team is now the number one team in the land, thanks to a 31-point drubbing of the Arkansas Razorbacks this past weekend.  The Wildcats are the unanimous number one in both the ESPN Coaches Poll and the AP’s, receiving all 31 and 65 first-place votes in each poll.

Not only has Kentucky returned to the top of the polls — a distinction that’s largely meaningless in college basketball, thanks to not having a BCS entity deciding which team is the best — they are also the last remaining undefeated team in the land.

Rounding out the top five of both polls are:

2. Kansas Jayhawks
3. Villanova Wildcats
4. Syracuse
5. Michigan State

Not only does this week’s poll mark the first time UK has been ranked number one for a while, it’s also the first time the North Carolina Tar Heels haven’t been ranked in the Top 25 since January 2006.  Of course, Carolina losing four-out-of-five has a way of negatively affecting whatever rankings a team’s received.

As for the newly-minted number one, head coach John Calipari welcomes the challenge of being the team with the biggest target on its back:

“It’s not a burden, it’s a badge of honor. It’s something to take pride in, but now there’s a bigger bull’s-eye,” Calipari said Monday…

While some are wondering whether or not the Wildcats can continue their undefeated streak, perhaps expecting that is a little too much in today’s college basketball game.

One bad shooting half can and usually will doom a team, no matter how talented they are.  No, expecting an undefeated season — something that hasn’t been accomplished since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers — is setting yourself up for disappointment.  While I’m not saying Kentucky would be better off if they lost, sometimes such a burden can cause a team to lose sight of the real goal; and for Kentucky and its fans, said goal is clear:

Winning their eighth National Championship.

One thing’s for sure, however; uber-Kentucky frosh DeMarcus Cousins enjoys wearing the “most wanted” target.  So much so, in fact, he lost some teeth while helping get his team up that proverbial hill.

Related posts:

1. Wizards Take Wall with 1st Pick and Four Kentucky Players Follow in First Round
2. March Madness Betting Free Picks For Saturday: West Virginia vs. Kentucky
3. March Madness Betting Free Picks: Kentucky vs. Cornell
4. The Johns Make Nice at Kentucky
5. Who’s Number One Now?